Are You Savvy With Your Supplements?

 
Let’s face it: Not, all vitamins and supplements are not created equal. There are so many conflicting studies about taking vitamins, making it hard for us to decide what to do. Are they worth the money? If you don’t have time to research which vitamins are good for you and which ones are a bunch of fillers, for a small yearly fee, www.consumerlab.com does it for you and will rate supplements and tell you which brands live up to their name – including the vitamins for fido or your favorite feline.
So where do you shop for the vitamin deals? I use a few different ones sites because one website does not carry all of the ones I need. Here are a few of my personal favorite websites online vendors: www.vitaminshoppe.com, which offers free shipping for any purchases over $100 www.vitacost.com, a Web store that offers natural and organic items such asincluding beauty, grocery and herbs, and $4.99 one time shipping www.smartbomb.com - while while the name sounds scary, this is the only place I can find my daughter’s probiotics and free shipping for any ordersanything over $100 www.iherb.com offers free shipping on orders over $60, although I do tend to find their prices a tad higher.  All of these websites provide great information on health and wellness articles in their archives – and, be sure to sign up for their newsletters so you can optimize the best deal on your favorite supplements.
What if you don’t have a favorite because you are not sure which ones works the best? Do this quick test to determine the power of your multivitamin. Place your vitamin in one cup of distilled white vinegar for 30 minutes (that’s the time limit established by the U.S. Pharmacopeia). If the vitamin completely dissolves, then it means the vitamin is being absorbed in your body. If not, you may want to change your brand. My suggestion is to look for food-based vitamins. They offer the best for our bodies. It is made with at least 20-40% REAL food, so your body readily absorbs it…makes sense, doesn’t it? Here are some good food based multi-vitamins: Rainbow Light New Chapter Essential Organics®, Essentials™ by Megafood™ are just a few brand names. Out of the 21 different brands ConsumerLab tested, only 10 came back with positive results including one pet vitamin. Yikes!
So if you are interested in taking vitamins and supplements, what are the musts? There are three in my book: a food-based multi-vitamin, a high- quality, pharmaceutical grade, molecular distilled fish oil, and a 3-strand probiotic. Your top five fish oil/Omega 3’s are:
1. Carlson Super Omega-3 Fish Oil Concentrate
2. Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega + Vitamin D3 (my personal favorite)
3. New Chapter Supercritical DHA 100
4. Jarrow Formulas Max
5. Pure Encapsulations EPA/DHA essentials
Why fish oils? The benefits of taking a high quality fish oil are numerous. For starters, it decreases inflammation in the arteries, joints and, muscles, meaning ( faster recovery from intense exercise). And for reasons that are less clear, omega-3s/Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) seem to help depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, according to a limited number of double-blind trials. Other proposed uses benefits of fish oils with that have some support include asthma, Raynaud's phenomenon (abnormal sensitivity of hands and feet to cold), chronic fatigue syndrome, cystic fibrosis, osteoporosis, reducing the risk of prostate and colorectal cancer and preventing weight loss during cancer chemotherapy. And, don’t forget our children. DHA is important for normal development and functioning of the brain and retina in the fetus and in infants. One large study done in Sweden found that these babies have higher IQs, while other studies have shown it reduces premature delivery and may help infertile couples. How do you know if your fish oils are good? If you are burping fish, your pills are rancid and offering absolutely no benefit to your body… except for bad breath.
As promised, here is your vegetarian recipe for the week. This one came from Whole Foods Market: Slow cooker Chickpea and Lentil Stew  cut the veggies the night before, soak the lentils in fresh water overnight, then toss it all in your crockpot in the morning before work. When come home you'll have a nice meal all for about $2.48 per bowl. Stay tuned for next week, when I’ll discuss the benefits of probitoics and more ways you can slash your grocery bill. Healthy Rregards, Jasmine PS: Have a birthday coming up? Go to www.birthdayfreebies.com, sign up for free and find local restaurants that offer free meals, ice cream and coffee on your birthday. My favorites are CPK, Caribou Coffee, Flat Top Grill and Cold Stone Ice Cream (Baskin Robbins also offers free ice cream on your birthday as well)!